


Euphoria

by starcrossedaus



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2019-10-17 09:32:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17557823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starcrossedaus/pseuds/starcrossedaus
Summary: A collection of blurbs based on prompts suggested anonymously on cc or through twitter.





	1. [15] Was That Supposed To Hurt?

The idea wasn’t Baekhyun’s, that’s why this sounded so damn stupid from the get go. 

Baekhyun wasn’t usually the kind of drunk guy to do stupid shit, he often looked a little too coherent when intoxicated. And, sure, his judgement was indeed a little impaired, but it wasn’t anything big. The only thing he couldn’t ever handle were the moments where Yixing got a little too insistent. 

On this particular occasion, Yixing was a little too much. And Baekhyun failed to say no. 

They ended up at a tattoo parlor, very late at night. Neon lights shining bright around them, quickly becoming a little too bright for Baekhyun, who leaned back on the couch he was sitting on and draped an arm over his face, right against his eyes. It wasn’t like he was missing much by doing that, he could still hear the music being played in the building, he could still hear every little noise, even if his brain failed to process the situation the right way. 

“God, was that supposed to hurt?” 

It’s his boyfriend’s voice, the only thing that could get him out of his head, and he quickly lets his arm fall down and off of his face.

He watches Yixing as he gets up and pulls his pants all the way up. That’s how he knows he’s fucked. 

The coherent part of his head is still hyper aware of the fact that what they are doing is incredibly stupid, but Yixing’s gone through it already, and now it’s his turn. He can still say no, of course, but they agreed on matching tattoos and he doesn’t think backing out now that it’s forever imprinted on Yixing’s skin is a good idea. Besides, his boyfriend was asking a question that made Baekhyun feel a little better about this, as it means he wouldn’t be in pain. Not that he is scared of pain anyway. 

Then it’s his turn. 

He gets up on his feet only when he’s called, a moment after Yixing stood in front of him and urged him not to look like his soul was about to leave his body. The guy just kept on repeating “ _ it doesn’t hurt”  _ so much that, by the end of it, Baekhyun actually believed it. 

So he met his destiny with hope, the kind that made him think everything would be okay. The kind that blinded him for a little while, and made him believe maybe the alcohol they’d drank not too long ago would help numb the sensations. 

He followed every instruction the artist gave him. He ended up bottom up with his pants and boxers pushed down, and hands turned to fists on either side of his head. 

“If this hurts, I’m murdering you,” he says, an empty threat directed at his boyfriend, who refused to sit on the couch and crouched right next to him. “I swear I’m killing you.” 

“Deal.” 

That’s all Yixing says, a cocky smile dancing on his face. A second later, the gun starts making it’s very particular noise, and a needle meets his skin. 

The pain is immediate. It’s quite strong to begin with, both because he’s never experienced this and because the skin in his ass just has to be sensitive as hell. He grits his teeth in an attempt to keep all noises he could possibly make in, but he doesn’t hesitate and shoots Yixing a glare that can only mean  _ murder. _

And Yixing fucking laughs. 

“Won’t last long,” Yixing says, a small smile remaining on his face. “I promise it won’t take more than ten minutes.” 

“That’s long enough already,” Baekhyun manages to reply. 

It hurt, not deeply but superficially, and that’s probably the worst part.

He wanted it to end the moment it started, but knew for a fact he couldn’t ask for a little break either, he had to hold still and wait it out. Yixing made a point with his words as well, this experience couldn’t possibly last too long, considering the choice of art for their tattoos was simple and silly, just a small smiley face on their asses, matching. 

Soon enough, the pain becomes dull, as though he was growing numb to it, but the seconds drag out endlessly no matter what. It almost feels like, for some reason, the world stopped spinning, so he is now being forced to live in this particular moment, experiencing the same amount of pain non stop. 

Closer to the end, however, and maybe because he’s fed up with this whole thing, the pain becomes worse. It feels like burning, like the needle is revisiting spots of skin that were already irritated or had already been touched on before. He hates this and hates how much Yixing had played him. 

“We’re done,” an unfamiliar voice says behind him, and although he can’t see the guy, he knows it came from the tattoo artist.

“We’re done,” Yixing echoes in a sigh. 

Baekhyun is glad to find he’s been given space to get up or take his time to recover, and he actually ends up taking a few seconds for himself before finally moving. He then gets up in silence, and shoots Yixing another glare, this time from afar, given the fact that the guy is finally paying for the artist’s services. 

They leave the place a minute or two after that, and Baekhyun’s immediate reaction is to push Yixing away from himself. 

“I hate you,” he barks at him. 

“No, you don’t,” is Yixing’s response. He then reaches out, getting ahold of Baekhyun’s shirt, and tugging him towards himself. 

“There’s a fucking smiley face on my ass, Yixing, on my ass,” he complains, momentarily forgetting about the whole pain thing. 

“So what? I have one too.” 

“Yeah, well, what are we gonna do? Touch butts and make the smileys kiss?” Baekhyun asks in a much more cynical tone, sounding more like himself than he had before, as though the effects of the alcohol were subsiding as he said those words. 

“I mean, we could if you wanted to,” Yixing shrugs.

“And you said it wouldn’t hurt, and that was a nightmare,” Baekhyun continues, while Yixing keeps on tugging from the shirt, stretching the fabric more and more and failing to bring his boyfriend closer to himself. “And I’m never drinking again with you and we’re never doing anything like this ever again-” 

And then, finally,  _ finally, _ Yixing manages to shut up up by pulling him all the way towards him and kissing him. 

He has to admit tho, he has a hard time resisting the impulse to let his hands wander down the guy’s back and land on his ass, which is a normal thing for either of them to do. But… he simply doesn’t want to see his boyfriend in any more pain, and, despite the alcohol, he tries to be careful for once.

The kiss is tender, the kind that isn’t meant to steal Baekhyun’s breath but to simply shut him up. He had a problem with running his mouth all of the time and Yixing learnt that this is an easy way to keep him silent. 

Once again, it works. 

“I’m sorry,” Yixing whispers in between little kisses, offering him a small smile. “Will you forgive me?” 

“No,” Baekhyun replies right away, although the smile on his face says otherwise. “I have a smiley face on my ass.” 

“So do I.”

“But yours is cute,” Baekhyun shoots back, sounding a little too whiny and staying close enough to Yixing’s lips that he can feel his boyfriend’s breath fanning against his mouth. 

“You didn’t even see it,” Yixing tells him before laughing, pressing a soft peck to the guy’s lips once more. 

“I wanna see it,” Baekhyun urges him in return, making him laugh once more. 

They looked like teenagers in love, touchy to the point that it’s cringe-worthy, sweet in a vomit-inducing kind of way. But they have fun, and that is the best part about their relationship. They go through life living it as best as they can, doing crazy shit just because they are able to. They never get tired of each other, not even if they spend every waking moment together. They just match each other’s crazy. 

“Not pulling my pants down in the middle of the street,” Yixing replies with yet another chuckle. 

“Then we’re going home,” Baekhyun replies, quick to pull away and put some space between them. He then takes his boyfriend’s hand and waits for a signal. 

“No way, you promised me murder and there are knives there,” he laughs in response and Baekhyun squeezes his hand a little tighter. 

“Alright, no murder, just light injuries,” Baekhyun says with a serious expression before breaking into a wide boxy smile. One Yixing desperately tries to kiss away. 

It takes a while - and a dozen more kisses - for them to finally start walking, but eventually, they make it home. 

 

And, just so you know, Baekhyun was right about Yixing’s tattoo, it was indeed cute, and, in his own words  _ the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. _


	2. [18] Watch Me

Days off weren’t really Kyungsoo’s thing. He would rather spend the whole day working, exhausting himself until it gave in, than staying indoors the whole day doing nothing but watching movies or playing games. For some reason, his body craved the strain from working himself to death. It made him feel a little more alive, to say the least.

Needless to say, when Chanyeol poked his head in his room and asked him if he wanted to go out, Kyungsoo almost immediately said yes--and in a very not so Kyungsoo fashion, too. He may have been a little perkier and his voice a notch higher, but Kyungsoo didn’t care. He was going out and it was all he could think of at the moment.

Due to his excitement, there were things Kyungsoo failed to ask Chanyeol about this “date”. The most important being where they were going and closely next to it was what they were going to do. Not that Kyungsoo ever asked about those before, he liked surprises and Chanyeol never failed him even once. Maybe it was why Kyungsoo blindly followed Chanyeol’s instructions.

Not ten minutes after he was told to dress comfortably, Kyungsoo was already out of his room wearing a black shirt and matching black jeans. Chanyeol also emerged from his room a few minutes later wearing his usual clothes that were way too  _ comfortable _ in Kyungsoo’s opinion but still didn’t question him about it. The other man usually wore those on several occasions. The oversized hoodie over an equally oversized shirt were kind of Chanyeol’s go to outfit.

When they were finally in the car, the only thing Chanyeol told him was, “I want to show you something.”

Really, Kyungsoo knew better than to expect something extravagant from his boyfriend but he was excited about it nonetheless. Perhaps, it was also the way Chanyeol’s eyes lit up when he said it that made Kyungsoo anticipate what was going to be shown to him.

His excitement lasted a good fifteen minutes--from their apartment until they reached their destination. When Chanyeol parked his car and they made their way out, he found himself standing in front of the building, his eyes reading the name over and over and hoping this was just a stop and not actually where they were going.

The gym was the last place Kyungsoo would think of if Chanyeol ever told him to guess. Because really? The gym? He wondered what his boyfriend wanted to show him to drag him all the way there.

Chanyeol was beckoning him to come inside, a wide smile on his face and his gym bag already hanging on one shoulder. God, Kyungsoo didn’t even realize he had his bag with him!

Five minutes upon entering the gym and Kyungsoo already wanted to leave. He kept scrunching his nose from the smell of sweat and perfume mixing in. It wasn’t exactly very nice to his senses. 

He was sitting on one of the benchpress tables (the farthest from the gym goers he could find) when Chanyeol came back wearing a black fitted muscle shirt. Kyungsoo almost choked at the sight. His boyfriend’s arms are now more defined and the shirt was hugging his body in all the right places. He already saw him naked a lot of times but why was he feeling like it was the first time he did?

Chanyeol stood in front of him, making Kyungsoo tilt his head back so he could meet his gaze.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join me?”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “I’m good. Wasn’t there something you wanted to show me?”

“Ah!” Chanyeol exclaimed, his hand animatedly pointing at Kyungsoo for reminding him. He turned on his heel and walked towards the barbell rack just a few meters away. Chanyeol called for help from the staff to put one of them down.

The staffs settled right by his feet. He pulled his gloves in place before he beckoned Kyungsoo to get closer. Kyungsoo got to his feet and sat on a bench closer to his boyfriend.

“So?” Kyungsoo waited, quietly waiting for Chanyeol to do what he was going to even though he already got an idea what it was.

Chanyeol beamed at him, pearly whites showing as he nodded. “As you know I’ve been working out a lot these days and I’ve been trying this one out for months. I want you to be the first one to see me do it properly! So just sit down there and watch me.”

Kyungsoo hums, watching Chanyeol as he bent down and held the metal bar in one hand, fingers wrapped tightly around it.

He could hear Chanyeol counting before he lifted the thing up, holding it in place for a few seconds before releasing it, the loud thud of the heavy metal falling startled him a little.

Kyungsoo looked at the barbell, his eyed glued to what was written on the weights. “60 kilograms?” he asked incredulously, his eyes wide and round as he looked at Chanyeol. “With one hand!”

Chanyeol was proud. All he wanted was to show something new to Kyungsoo. They had been together for a two years and relationships were bound to have their low time. Not that they were currently going through that, he just wanted to make sure to always show him something him he hadn’t seen.

“You can carry me with one hand,” he mumbled, still in awe at what Chanyeol had shown him. “Wow.”

“I’m assuming you liked it?” Chanyeol asked, walking over to him.

Kyungsoo looked up at him with a smirk. “Very much so. No wonder you could easily lift me up.”

Chanyeol laughed, it was deep and was doing something to Kyungsoo. A feeling he was very much acquainted with.

“Can we go back home?” Kyungsoo suddenly ask.

Chanyeol looked at him, confused. He was sure he wanted to go out earlier. “You don’t want to go somewhere else?”

Kyungsoo shook his head, standing up and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. “I think I’d rather go home now. I also have something to show you.”

Chanyeol didn’t miss the way his boyfriend’s voice was a little too seductive. God, how could he miss it when he hears that almost on a daily? “Are you sure?”

The other only hums.

“Let me get changed then.”

Kyungsoo shook his head another time. “Don’t. Just grab you bag so we could leave.”

When Kyungsoo was like this, there really wasn’t anything Chanyeol could do but follow. He was already hard to resist on a normal day, but during times like this? Kyungsoo made it a thousand or even a million times harder.

They got home even faster than usual and Chanyeol was prepared to pay for all the speeding tickets he would get. Besides, it would be worth it especially since right as they entered the room, Kyungsoo already got on his knees for him. So whatever it was he had to pay, he was sure Kyungsoo would make up for it. 


	3. [45] How Much Of That Did You Hear?

“God, he’s just- ugh,” Kyungsoo says, his deep voice sounding muffled by the distance. 

A few incomprehensible words are said in between, things Chanyeol can’t make sense of because he isn’t in the room hearing that conversation at its full volume. Yeah, it was wrong to be doing this but nobody was stopping him. And, for fuck’s sake, this is a party, he could stand anywhere he wanted to, and if he happened to hear a conversation then all the better.

The party wasn’t even a great one to begin with.

Sehun and Jongin had taken up the whole couch with their endless make out session, and Jongdae was in charge of the music. It was  _ bound  _ to be a terrible party with that alone going on. 

This was the best thing that had happened so far!! Eavesdropping was, for once, being quite a fun thing to do, so why stop now? 

“He can’t possibly be that dense, Soo,” Baekhyun’s muffled voice replied after a moment. 

“But he is!” Kyungsoo complained immediately after. “I’ve been trying to hint at me liking him for months and he just doesn’t get it. I come one step closer and he takes five back.” 

This is why eavesdropping is terrible, he thinks, because when they talk about someone else, it’s fun to know what the gossip’s all about. But this isn’t about anyone else, this is about Chanyeol himself. And he never thought his name and the word  _ dense  _ could be related in any way. If anything, he believed he was the opposite. 

Apparently, it seemed, he’d been wrong all along. 

Then the words  _ gay panic _ are repeated at least five times now, all by Baekhyun, and Chanyeol smiles behind the door. 

It wasn’t that he hadn’t noticed or that he’d purposely ignored Kyungsoo’s advances, it was just that he didn’t really know how to act on it. They’d been best friends for too long, to the point that ruining their friendship wasn’t really the best sounding idea. He truly did not want to lose him due to an impulse, to a relationship with stronger feelings that could die down in the blink of an eye if they weren’t careful.

“Haven’t you thought that maybe you should actually tell him and not just drop subtle hints?” Baekhyun asks, sounding a little more concerned than annoyed. 

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Kyungsoo mocked Baekhyun in response. “Hey, Chanyeol, I’m really fucking in love with you, could you please stop looking at me like a friend?” he then continued, sighing loudly enough for Chanyeol to hear it. “All while he towers over me and looks at me with those huge eyes that just scream  _ what the fuck? _ at me.”

At that, Chanyeol smiles to himself, preventing himself from laughing. The way Kyungsoo paints the image in his head is quite accurate, and  _ that’s  _ what almost has him laughing, which is arguably a terrible idea, considering he doesn’t want to be caught eavesdropping. 

“So you’re just gonna do nothing and keep complaining forever?” Baekhyun shoots back right away, eliciting another sigh from Kyungsoo that sounds more like a prolonged  _ ah _ .

“Maybe.” And a few more words that Chanyeol can’t quite understand fill the silence in the empty hallway. 

“God, I get it, he’s not the dense one,” Baekhyun says, following up with a dramatic pause. “You’re the dense one,” he then breathes out loudly.

“Hey, don’t be fucking rude,” Kyungsoo says way louder than before. 

And that’s when the door opens. 

Chanyeol stumbles back and everything falls silent for a moment, almost as if time stopped. 

Then there’s laughter. 

Baekhyun laughs loudly, carelessly, all while a gaping Kyungsoo stares up at Chanyeol in shock. And Chanyeol can’t lie, he does feel guilty for having done this. He shouldn’t have been behind that door, listening to a private conversation. 

And he could say he’s sorry, but he’s not really feeling apologetic towards anything. 

That’s probably the worst part of it all, that he  _ wanted  _ to hear that and that he didn’t plan on acting on it at all. 

And now he has to. 

“ _ Fuck _ .” 

That’s all Kyungsoo mutters in his characteristic deep voice before shoving Chanyeol away and closing the door behind his own body. A split second after that, Chanyeol’s back is flush against the wall, Kyungsoo’s hand on his chest, and he could swear he’s never seen the guy look that upset before. 

“How much of that did you hear?” he asks right away, a question Chanyeol can only shrug in response to. 

He’s heard everything, or as much of everything as he could actually hear without the voices being muffled by the walls and the distance in between. And, even if it wasn’t everything, he’s still heard enough.

Kyungsoo knows it must have been enough for the guy to actually want to stand still and keep on listening, which is why his question is more of a rhetorical kind than anything else. He just wishes things didn’t have to be like this. 

“Uh... “ Chanyeol starts off, with the single sound being enough for Kyungsoo to mutter another  _ fuck _ . “I’m sorry?” 

“I’m sorry?” Kyungsoo echoes, eyes as wide as they can be. “That’s all you have to say?” 

“Well, I mean, I did hear a conversation I shouldn’t have heard-,” Chanyeol tries to excuse himself, only to be cut off by Kyungsoo. 

“Not that, you idiot, I mean the whole thing.” 

“The whole thing.” 

“Yeah, the  _ whole  _ thing. Me saying I love you and all of that…” Kyungsoo finally explains, trailing off at the end. 

“I didn’t know you felt that way until now,” Chanyeol says, collecting himself quickly in order to say more. “I knew you were flirting with me but I thought that I shouldn’t take it seriously… You know… for the sake of our friendship.”

“ _ Fuck _ , Baekhyun was right.” Kyungsoo replies. 

For a moment there, Chanyeol can’t quite grasp what Kyungsoo is trying to get to. He doesn’t understand what it is that Baekhyun was so right about, but he figures there won’t really be a definite answer for the question. It’s not that it matters anyways, not when they are already talking about it and about to settle things for good. 

“Fuck it, I’m doing it.” Kyungsoo then says, and Chanyeol instantly figures he’s gotta be talking to himself more than he’s talking to him. Otherwise none of it would make sense. “I don’t wanna be your friend, I want to kiss the lights out of you. I want to go on dates with you and have people stare at us and think we’re a disgusting couple.” 

_ This has to be enough,  _ he then tells himself, keeping his eyes glued to Chanyeol’s. 

And Chanyeol… well, he needs a moment to process the information. This is all too much to take in at once, and he’s never really been confessed to in such a blunt way, and while he knows he needs to give him an answer -which is very obviously gonna be a yes-, he still needs time to repeat each word in his head and over analyze every little thing about the whole thing. 

Unfortunately, his moment seems a little too long for Kyungsoo, who takes a step back and looks as the most defeated man on earth. 

“Well this is something Baekhyun was wrong about,” Kyungsoo breathes out. 

“Wait, what?” 

That’s all Chanyeol can bring himself to ask, mostly because he doesn’t understand what the hell’s going on, and Kyungsoo’s not giving him much to go off of. 

“He was pretty sure you wouldn’t say no to me,” he then says, rolling his eyes. 

Chanyeol just smiles. 

“I didn’t say no to you,” Chanyeol then points out. “I was actually gonna say yes.” 

Kyungsoo, for the second time that night, gapes at him and falls silent before muttering another soft  _ fuck _ that makes him laugh. 

“Date me,” Chanyeol says, his smile growing wider. 

“ _ Fuck. _ ”

“Is that all you have to say?” 

“Actually,” Kyungsoo starts off after a short pause. “Yeah, it is, because that’s literally the next thing I’m gonna do with you.”

His words are enough to surprise Chanyeol. It’s his turn to gape now. 

Next thing he knows, Kyungsoo’s leading him to the nearest bedroom available -thank god they were at Kyungsoo’s and not anywhere else, and, soon enough, their clothes are laying on the floor. 

That’s when Chanyeol says exactly what Kyungsoo wanted to hear. 

“I love you, too.” 


	4. [13] I Thought You Were Dead

Baekhyun stopped texting back at 6 PM. But 6PM three days ago. 

It’s not unusual for the guy to get caught up and never reply again, but never like this. Usually, he’d take a few hours before getting back to whoever it was talked to him last, he’d apologize and move on. It isn’t a new thing for him to get caught up on something else and completely forget to text back or call, and Minseok can’t say that he isn’t used to it. 

He knows Baekhyun like the back of his hand. There are no secrets to the guy. He knows when he wakes up and at what time he likes going to bed. He knows his favorite food and has memorized his preferred Starbucks’ coffee order. He  _ knows _ him, much better than most other people do. 

That’s how he knows this isn’t normal. 

The first few hours went on as normal. He waited for a text that never came and didn’t get mad at all. It was expected of Baekhyun anyways. 

But… he reached anxiety-land as soon as the first twenty-four hours came to a close. 

That was already kind of odd, and Minseok knew that from the moment the clock marked the first day of Baekhyun’s absence. It didn’t help that he’d texted him several times to no avail. 

Baekhyun just never replied. 

Then the second day happened. The worst forty-eight hours of Minseok’s life. 

Not only was there no response, but he couldn’t reach Baekhyun anywhere. And, really, he did try hard to contact him. 

It almost felt as though Baekhyun had taken it upon himself to disappear altogether, become a ghost, say  _ I’m gonna take a shower  _ and then vanish.  _ Poof  _ and completely gone. 

And by the third day... Well, by the third day Minseok’s had enough. 

It’s exactly been seventy-two hours, twenty minutes and nineteen seconds since the last time he heard anything from Baekhyun.

Something just  _ has _ to be wrong. There’s no other reason for Baekhyun to never reply again, to completely disappear. 

Something must’ve gone wrong, something bad must’ve happened.

That’s how he knows he needs to go to his place and break into it if he sees himself forced to. He needs to make sure Baekhyun’s okay or that, at the very least, things can get better. This lack of communication is worrying,  _ really _ worrying. 

He makes it there fairly quickly, though not as much as he would’ve liked to, and rushes to the fourth floor, where he knows Baekhyun’s apartment is at. Then, as expected, he finds the hidden key behind a sad looking plant, which obviously looks like it hasn’t been watered in days, and unlocks the door. 

And then it hits him.

He can hear the gunshots from where he’s standing.

He can hear Baekhyun muttering to himself a number and then more gunshots, more explosions, more whatever it is he’s hearing. 

And he just  _ knows. _

Baekhyun hasn’t vanished. Nothing’s happened to him. He’s just been playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for long enough for the world to disappear for him. 

And then he sees him. 

Baekhyun’s laying on the bed, on his belly, with both hands on a joystick and eyes glued to a flat screen mounted on the wall.  

“Oh my God, Baekhyun,” Minseok breathes out, half out of relief, half out of anger. He then brings a hand up to his face and leans back against the door frame. “I thought you died, I thought you were fucking dead.”

“Fuck!” is what Baekhyun replies with, nearly jumping off the bed and shaking for a split second. “What the fuck are you so silent for? Fuck, you scared me.” 

Gunshots echo and Baekhyun lets out a soft  _ ow  _ that almost makes Minseok feel sorry.

“You stopped replying three days ago, I thought you were dead,” he explains, scratching his head and breathing deeply. 

“Well, now I am. Look,  _ girlybutterfly23 _ just murdered me with a single shot to the head,” Baekhyun replies, his hands falling limp a split second before his forehead meets the mattress and hides his face away. “I hate you.” 

Silently, Minseok finally approaches the bed, sitting on the far corner of it. 

“ _ Three days, _ Baekhyun,” Minseok reminds him. 

His lack of response and absence had truly unsettled him for days, and it isn’t like he expected Baekhyun to apologize and move on, but he figures it would’ve been better than the silence he’s currently getting. What makes it even worse is that Baekhyun actually sounded defeated upon losing a random game of PUBG. 

“You said you’d be showering and then completely disappeared, what did you expect me to think?” Minseok finally asks, a perked eyebrow as he stares down at the other. 

Baekhyun doesn’t bother lifting his head just yet. 

“My phone died.”

“So you’re telling me your phone died three days ago and you just kept playing non stop.” 

And the softest  _ mhmm _ reaches him, muffled by the mattress and the blankets and Baekhyun’s own defeat. 

“Don’t be mad,” he finally brings out, turning his head and angling himself so he can stare at Minseok. “I’m really sorry.” 

“You’ve been playing PUBG for three days without a pause,” Minseok repeats. 

“I paused to sleep and eat sometimes.” 

“I thought you were dead, you fucking asshole,” Minseok barks at him, reaching out to shove Baekhyun a few times. “I was worried sick.” 

Those words are enough to bring a smile to Baekhyun’s face, although it’s kind of hazy and one corner of his mouth is smushed by the bed. Not that he’s proud of making Minseok feel like that, but it’s just that he didn’t expect to give him such a scare due to a lack of response to random texts. 

It’s actually kind of cute. 

“Play with me.” 

“What?” Minseok shoots back right away. 

“PUBG. Play with me.” Baekhyun insists, shrugging softly and finally lifting himself up and leaning on his elbows on the bed. “I really am sorry… Stay a little longer, please?” 

Minseok tilts his head in response, trying to understand where all of this is coming from but failing at it. He should be mad at Baekhyun, but he just never was. He still isn’t.

“We can play for a little bit and then we’ll order dinner and you can make sure my phone’s at 100% when you leave.” Baekhyun offers, smile widening little by little on his face. 

“I swear to God if I have to come back here because I think you died in the shower again....” Minseok sighs, throwing his head back and finally letting a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. 

“Not gonna happen, I promise.” Baekhyun is quick to reply. 

“Fine.” Minseok rolls his eyes, and only then, looks down at Baekhyun again.

“Is that a yes?” Baekhyun shoots back, sounding a little too excited. 

“But I want you to know I’m gonna be murdered in cold blood in zero point two seconds, and you’re gonna have to carry my dead body around.” Minseok complains, getting up and off of the bed, and approaching the PS4 controller that’s been abandoned on the floor next to the wardrobe. “And I demand ice cream and cookies after dinner.” 

“I’ll give you all of the ice cream in the world and any cookies you want,” Baekhyun replies, scooting himself a little further away to make room for Minseok to lay next to him on the bed. “ _ And _ I’ll make sure nobody kills you while we play.” 

And, with Minseok laying next to him, a very alive Baekhyun queued up for a new match. 


	5. [49] I Don't Want To Screw This Up

“Hyung.”

Minseok turns to look at the person calling him. It is familiar but at the same time, it is not. He knows Sehun owns that voice, but the tone and the color he got from it aren’t his usual. 

He stands up when he sees the look on Sehun’s face. The younger man looks stressed. He has dark circles under his eyes, as though he didn’t get that much sleep, that much is obvious and it’s enough for Minseok to go into protective mode.

“Hey,” he says softly, walking towards him. “What’s wrong?”

Sehun smiles at him and shakes his head. “Just nervous I guess?”

“Sit down for a bit,” Minseok tells him, taking a spot on the wooden floor close to the mirrored walls. When Sehun finally settles beside him, he speaks again. “What is it exactly you’re nervous about?”

Sehun shrugs. “I don’t know. I woke up today feeling like something’s gonna go wrong.”

Minseok sighs, taking the younger man’s hand and squeezes it lightly in assurance.

He’s known Sehun for years now and he knows how his mind works at this point. He knows how much it drags him down, how negative it gets when faced with things he is unsure of.

Others view Sehun to be a confident man, someone who is sure of himself and of what he does. He looks great when he’s performing, as if he is a different person. But Minseok knows better.

Sehun beats himself up for every little thing, worries about the least important matters and make a great deal out of them. His mind is his greatest enemy, the one thing Minseok keeps on trying to shut down by telling Sehun how he sees him. Sometimes it works. Other times, it just doesn’t.

“Listen to me,” he starts, making the younger man turn to look at him. They are alone now in the studio, the others already left earlier to get ready for the next day, the big day. “Nothing’s gonna go wrong. You’re gonna do great and you’re going to bring all those people on their feet the moment it ends.”

Sehun is looking at him but he knows that it’s not enough, his words aren’t enough as it is.

“It’s gonna be okay, Sehunnie.”

“No it’s not,” Sehun replies in a heartbeat. “This is your first production, hyung. It’s a big thing! I don’t know why you chose me. I shouldn’t have said yes. But I can’t say no to you. I was greedy to want to be a part of this,” he continues, his eyes now downcast, looking at the small hand covering his own. “I shouldn’t have said yes,” he repeats, voice small, like a child’s.

Minseok guesses Sehun has been beating himself up since day one. Had he known, he would’ve said something to him There’s only so much he can do when Sehun tries to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself most of the time. So, at times, when he comes to him for things like this, Minseok makes sure he supports him as best as he can.

“I chose you because I believe in you. This whole production… I made it with you in mind, if you haven’t noticed.”

Sehun turns to him with wide eyes, mouth gaping slightly. “That… really doesn’t help me at all. I don’t want to screw this up, hyung. I feel like I will.”

“Hey now! You’re doing so well. No one can do this better than you do,” he assures him. “You’re the only one who can do this, Sehunnie.”

“But hyung…”

“No buts! I’ve seen you grow from the awkward lanky boy to this stunning young man. I’ve seen your potential and how much more you can improve. You just need to believe in yourself like how I believe in you.”

Sehun tries to let them all sink in. Minseok has never lied to him, never said anything just to cater to his needs or wants. He had always been truthful in everything, speaks his mind and tells him all he needs to know whether it be good or not. There’s really no reason for him not to believe his words.

“Are you sure I can do it?”

Minseok beams at him. “100% positive.”

Sehun breathes in, nodding. “Okay,” he says before getting to his feet and walking to the center of the studio, facing the mirrors, facing Minseok. “Can you watch me do this one scene? I keep fucking up that part.”

Minseok nods with a soft smile on his face, leaning back on the mirror after grabbing his phone to play the music Sehun wants to dance to. “Of course, Sehunnie.”

 

~♕~

 

It is a big thing, Sehun knows it. He hears the applause coming from the audience once they’re done, their heads still bowed down. He’s afraid to lift his head, but at the same time excited to see how well they did. He squeezes Jongin’s hand beside him, gathering up the courage before they finally stand straight. The lights temporarily blind him, his eyes adjusting a second later.

The sight in front of him is something he didn’t expect to see. It is beyond his expectation but something that Minseok had seen coming.

_ “You’re gonna do great and you’re going to bring all those people on their feet the moment it ends.” _

He feels great, his heart beating so fast in his chest from the unbelievable response they’re getting. The whistles and the cheers fill the room and he sees Minseok right there, with his gummy smile and all, looking so proud of him. 

He smiles back at him, releasing his hold on Jongin’s hand to wave at the older man mouthing, “I did it, hyung.”

He doesn’t know if Minseok understood, but he sends him a thumbs up, regardless. That’s enough for him to know he did well, that he gave Minseok’s hard work justice, and his own too.


	6. [46] You're Not Going To Let That Go, Are You?

“What more do you want?” Chanyeol snapped, turning to face Kyungsoo. “I don’t know what else you want from me, Soo!”

Kyungsoo didn’t think there would come a time where he would be on the receiving end of this kind of treatment. For years, he was the one who always snapped at Chanyeol when he was in a bad mood, the one who brushed him off when he wanted to apologize for the smallest things, the one who kept ignoring him when all he wanted to do was to show his affection the way he knew how. It was him who made Chanyeol feel like this more often than not but Chanyeol didn’t complain even once.

Now here he was, already fighting him for ignoring his calls when he was the one who told him to leave him alone in the first place. He didn’t know how Chanyeol did it, how he put up with Kyungsoo’s ever changing moods and still smiled at him despite everything.

Kyungsoo couldn’t, probably wouldn’t, understand why Chanyeol stayed with him all those times—why he was patient and understanding, why he was generous and kind, sincere and passionate. Kyungsoo tried to find a reason for it but came up with none. No one could be that nice. 

Time and time again though, Chanyeol proved him otherwise. His patience knew no bounds, it went beyond what every other human being on earth could’ve possibly possessed. It was something Kyungsoo liked about him but also something  Kyungsoo unconsciously took advantage of. He knew Chanyeol wouldn’t tell him off, so he just kept going. Until Chanyeol did.

“You told me to stay away! Now you’re getting mad at me for not responding to your calls?” Chanyeol huffed, shook his head and turned to leave.

Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say. He didn’t have anything to say to that because Chanyeol was right.

“I-,” he tried to speak only to close his mouth when nothing came out, he was left speechless, dumbfounded.

Chanyeol was getting farther away, his stride making it easier for him to put distance between them in just a few steps. Kyungsoo followed him. He ran to catch up, grabbing Chanyeol’s arm to stop him from walking.

“I’m sorry!” he blurted out. “I’m- I’m sorry.”

Chanyeol removed the hand that was holding him so that he can turn around to face Kyungsoo, his face blank, void of emotion. “What are you sorry for?”

Kyungsoo looked up at him and saw nothing there. The eyes that used to sparkle with joy and mischief held nothing but an empty stare. They looked like the eyes of a stranger. They weren’t Chanyeol’s.

It took him a second to respond, the words caught in his throat. “For... everything,” he managed to get out. “I’ve been the biggest asshole to you, I know that. I don’t know why I couldn’t just... be nice like you. I have said words I didn’t mean and acted out depending on my mood.”

There was really no excuse for his behavior. His attitude towards Chanyeol was the worst. He took the brunt of almost all of Kyungsoo’s bad days yet he still stayed by his side.

“I guess at the back of my mind, I knew you wouldn’t leave me no matter what I do-”

“I told you I wouldn’t unless you wanted me to. You were the one who told me to leave,” Chanyeol cut him off, putting a temporary end to his impromptu speech.

“I didn’t think you’d go… I don’t want you to go!”

Kyungsoo could feel his eyes burning, the telltale sign that he was about to cry. Kyungsoo hated crying. He didn’t want to feel weak and vulnerable. He never wanted people to think that just because he looked young and was short, they could walk all over him. Kyungsoo didn’t let anyone think that way.

But Chanyeol, it was always Chanyeol who saw him crying. He was there when he almost failed his physics class, when his pants ripped in the middle of a play and was too embarrassed to leave the dressing room and when he had his first heartbreak because some boy decided to toy with him.

Not once did Chanyeol look down on him. He was there to comfort him and to help him get through. He was a support he didn’t ask for but luckily got. Chanyeol was an angel he didn’t realize he had.

“But you did… And I didn’t know what to do when you didn't call me and you didn’t come home for days…” he sniffed, wiping the stray tear that betrayed him and looked away. “Please come back home, Yeollie,” he begged, looking up at him with round, watery eyes.

Kyungsoo was too caught up explaining that he missed the way Chanyeol’s lips tilt up in the slightest smile, something that was there for only a second before it was gone.

“Do you really want me back?”

Kyungsoo nods, biting his lips. “I do. I miss you so much.”

“What if you snap at me again and tell me to leave?”

“I won’t do it again. This already scared me enough to make the same mistake.”

It was a silent promise. Kyungsoo knew he would be very cautious of what he would say from here on out. It was terrifying thinking that he would lose Chanyeol forever because he was stupid and dumb. His inexcusable behavior being the reason why the perfect man for him would leave would forever haunt him.

“I’ll be good. I- I’ll try not to be snappy… I guess it somehow irked me that you weren’t getting mad at me that I unconsciously tried to test the limit… and… and I hated the result of it.”

Chanyeol took a step forward, taking him by surprise when he wrapped his arm around him, pulling him to his chest. He could hear his heart beating so fast.

“I wasn’t mad at you. Sehun told me to leave the house for days and pretend I was mad to see what you would do. I didn’t expect you to react like this it was actually endearing.”

It took Kyungsoo a second to process his words before they sunk in. He pushed Chanyeol lightly, lookìng up at him with wide eyes.

“You-”

Chanyeol’s smile was wide, happy. It was the Chanyeol he knew and fell in love with. “Yes?”

“You weren’t mad?”

Chanyeol shook his head. “Not one bit.”

“You played me!” Kyungsoo almost whined, his face looked one of defeat, his hands covering his face in embarrassment.

Chanyeol laughed, taking his hand off of his face. “Hey, you were pretty cute! If only you were like that all the time...”

“I hate you!” He said, wrapping his arms around Chanyeol to hide his face.

“No, you don’t. You even begged for me to come home!”

Kyungsoo hit him lightly, pressing his face to his chest, muffling his own words. “You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

“Never. Maybe you can beg for something else?” Chanyeol teased.

Kyungsoo pulled away and hit his chest. “Don’t ever come home!”

He ran away after that, with Chanyeol right behind him, laughing his heart out as he caught up to him. And all the while, Kyungsoo was smiling, happy that Chanyeol made him remember why he loved the man so much and why they were so good together.


	7. [19] I've Missed This

It isn’t everyday that Baekhyun gets to spend a day alone with Yixing. With all the practices and the preparations they had to do for the concert, there’s barely time for them to hang out, let alone rest. He contents himself with the stolen glances he throws towards Yixing’s direction—sometimes when he dances, sometimes when he’s just sitting in a corner with his eyes closed trying to get at least a few minutes of sleep.

In those times, he thinks the older man is really admirable. Being the oldest member in the band probably puts a lot of pressure on Yixing but he never heard him complain about it, not even when people were saying a lot of mean things on the internet about his absence during the last concert tour because of health issues. Baekhyun waited for him to talk, speak out about all his worries but it never came. Yixing only ever gave him that sweet smile he always had on his face, that little dip on his cheek showing, and that was enough to melt all the worries inside his chest and spread warmth to his heart.

Baekhyun drops on the couch, putting as little distance between him and Yixing before he leans over to grab the remote control. The other members are out doing their own thing. With the concert fast approaching, they only get to have a few days off and they make sure to spend that well. Good thing though, Yixing isn’t in the mood to go out so Baekhyun made an excuse to stay in, despite Sehun and Chanyeol trying to force him to go out with them.

The time he spent with those two wouldn’t be able to compare with the time he had spent with Yixing. The past year had been so busy for the older man that Baekhyun got to see and talk to him through video calls more than he saw him in real life. He missed him so much, so painfully much, that he would do anything just to have more time with him.

“What do you want to watch, hyung?” he asks after settling himself beside Yixing, back pressed against the other man’s side comfortably. They are always so close, as if the lack of skinship when they are near each other can already mean there’s something off with them.

Yixing tilts his head slightly so he can see Baekhyun, mouth pressed in a thin line as if thinking hard of an answer for a very simple question only to settle with “You choose. I’m good with anything.”

Baekhyun should have guessed. He nods then chooses a random channel with an American film showing on the screen. He can’t be bothered to actually choose a decent one when all he wants to do is cuddle his favorite hyung. “Are you feeling better now?”

There is an inaudible sigh but sitting so close to Yixing makes him hyper aware of the littlest movements he does, even the deep breath he just made. “I’m doing fine, you don’t need to worry about me, Baekhyunnie.” Yixing gives him a soft smile, those crinkles at the corner of his eyes making him look younger despite his age. It looks so genuine but Baekhyun knows better not to trust his words.

He nods, regardless, returning back the smile the other man offered him and shifts on his seat, choosing to wrap his arm around Yixing’s not minding if the other thinks he’s being way too clingy or a bother. Yixing never seems to complain even when times Baekhyun has ignored his personal space a lot of times so he thinks this time wouldn’t be any different.

Except, Yixing moved away from him. His arms falling down on his side as he looks at the man. He tries not to look disappointed, or even upset. Yixing has the right to want some space for himself. Baekhyun understands that. He still can’t help but feel a little down though.

He turns his attention back to the TV. He doesn’t even know what show was airing but he stares at it anyways. He didn’t notice Yixing shifting on his seat until he feels a weight on his lap. He looks down at him, meeting Yixing’s gaze who’s already looking up at him.

“You look upset, Baekhyunnie,” Yixing says sweetly, almost teasingly. There’s a hint of a smile on his face, his dimple completely giving him away.

“I’m not upset,” he retorts, but Yixing doesn’t believe him one bit. His pout is very visible from where he’s lying.

“Mhmm. Of course you’re not.”

Baekhyun groans and almost in a whine, he says, “I am not!”

Yixing laughs, his stupid laugh that never fails to make Baekhyun feel all kinds of fuzzy whenever he hears it. It is unfair, he thinks. No one should look and sound that beautiful. Baekhyun’s laughter is loud and he was often told that he looks ugly. Yixing definitely couldn’t relate.

Baekhyun’s hand instinctively comb through Yixing’s hair as he watches the other man. His laughter slowly dies down and it turns to one of his softest smiles, one that could easily melt Baekhyun.

“I missed you, hyung,” Baekhyun says softly. “I’ve missed this.”

Baekhyun doesn’t need to say anything more for Yixing to understand. He just knows. They don’t need to say it word for word or in a very detailed manner. They understand each other just like that.

“Me, too. I’m sorry I’ve been away for too long,” Yixing replies, taking his free hand and interlacing their fingers, squeezing tightly. “I’ll try not to do that again.”

“Maybe take care of yourself more then,” he chastises, clicking his tongue.

Yixing chuckles, nodding in agreement. “I’ll be here a lot more now so you can tell me when to stop.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “You’re funny. You never listened to me before!”

“Then I will listen now,” Yixing promises.

Baekhyun’s features softens, his gaze falling on Yixing so fondly as he continues to run his hand through his hair. “I will tie you up if I have to.”

“Kinky,” he teases. “But I’ll let you tie me up.”

“I’m serious!”

“I’m serious, too. If you have to tie me up so  that you’ll be at ease then I’ll let you. I don’t want you to worry about me when you already have yourself to worry about.”

Baekhyun pouts. “I can’t not worry about you. I care about you too much not to.”

It warms Yixing’s heart how Baekhyun can be so caring, not just to him but to every other member. Maybe he’s just a little bit biased when it comes to him but that’s besides the point.

“I’ll take care of myself more from now on so don’t worry too much, okay?”

Baekhyun doesn’t respond, just frowns.

“Okay?” Yixing repeats. “I promise I’ll be good this time.”

“I swear if you faint again-”

“I won’t,” he cuts him off. “I saw how scared you were. I won’t let it happen again.”

Baekhyun trusts Yixing not to break his promise. He knows the other man will still work hard but he knows that he will listen to him, too, when he tells him it’s time to take a break. He felt like his heart was being ripped off his chest when he saw him fall down on the floor. Baekhyun doesn’t want to see him like that again.

“You really promise you’ll listen?”

“Mhmm.”

“Really really really promise?”

“I promise, Baekhyunnie.”

“Okay,” he says softly, patting his head gently. “Can you kiss me now?”

Yixing doesn’t need to be asked twice. He holds the back of Baekhyun’s neck to pull him down as he meets him halfway. Their lips press against each other perfectly as they share a kiss, a promise. Baekhyun knows that from this moment on, he will get to have this more than he ever did the past year. He knows Yixing will be pampering him with hugs and kisses and everything he wants. He knows the man will be staying now for good. He knows that Yixing won’t ever leave. At least, not without him anyway.


	8. [3] It's Three In The Morning

They are always like this, volatile, explosive, meant to break. They fight more than they love and they scream more than they talk. They aren't good for each other. 

Baekhyun despises Chanyeol with the burning passion of a thousand suns. There could never be a serious moment with the guy, as though his ideas froze all at once due to his height and he can't think straight. He is an arrogant, condescending, annoying asshole that makes every single day of his life five times worse than they have to be. 

Chanyeol cannot stand the sight of Baekhyun. His sometimes high pitched voice gets on his nerves badly enough that he feels like ripping the hairs out of his head, not all at once but one by one. His odd sleeping habits are the reason why he truly believes he's losing his mind. He's a loud, obnoxious, know-it-all pain in the ass that makes every single day of his life five times longer than they have to be. 

Why they are dating in the first place is beyond them, even if in the beginning they knew why and remembered it every single day. Back then, they were attracted to each other and ready to want and have more. Back then they had a future.

Now they are reaching the full stop, the very end. 

And neither of them feel sorry about it. 

“I can't believe you did that,” Baekhyun says from the driver's seat, his anger evident in his voice.

Chanyeol doesn't understand why the guy still waited for him to get in the car after snatching the keys away from him, but he did. That's the only thing he's grateful for. 

“Did what? Tell you to shut up when you were being an asshole in front of your own parents?” Chanyeol shoots back, a perked eyebrow and a cocky smile on his face.

Baekhyun wishes he could punch that smile off. 

“I don't remember being the one talking about my partner's sexual preferences, and I certainly don't remember being the one purposely creating awkward situations.” Baekhyun's hands grip the steering wheel tightly, all just so he can keep on willing himself not to crash the car against the next tree he sees. “We were at a wedding for fucks sake, and you couldn't be normal for one fucking night.”

He always did that kind of stuff and Baekhyun hates him for it. He doesn't care if it's hypocritical of him to be that way because he's done the same at least twice, he just hates it even more this time around.

The thing is Chanyeol doesn't feel sorry. He would do that all over again and ruin Baekhyun's night once more. That's how he knows he can't be with Baekhyun for one more minute of his life. 

“Please, like you weren't taunting me with all of those diminishing comments you threw at me,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “Chanyeol doesn't do a thing at home, Chanyeol hasn't been promoted in years, Chanyeol has no talents other than taking power naps, what the fuck did you expect me to do, smile and call you angel? Fuck you.”

“So we are completely gonna fucking ignore the fact that, from the moment we got there, you started fighting me over literally anything.” Baekhyun shoots back.

He parks the car on their regular spot, close enough to the building’s door that the cold wind doesn’t harm them in any way. A part of him expected the fight to end the moment they got out of the car, but, it seems, this time around is one of those fights that might go on for a little too long. 

Eventually, both of them find themselves raising their voices, getting angrier at each other. 

Things don’t get any easier after that. 

“Maybe, if you weren’t an asshole, I’d still be in love with you,” Baekhyun shoots at him, loud enough for the neighbors to hear. 

“It’s three in the morning, Baekhyun, lower your fucking tone,” Chanyeol replies just as loudly. 

“You’re being loud, too!” 

In another time, back when things between them were nothing but perfect, Baekhyun loved Chanyeol’s voice. He loved just how deep the guy’s voice could get, how loud he could laugh and how sweet he looked at all times. He used to enjoy every second they spent talking and loved trying to get him to talk even more just to hear his voice one more time. 

Now all he does is hate it. 

As for Chanyeol… He loved Baekhyun’s high energy and kind demeanor. He loved even the smallest things with a passion and couldn’t ever get enough of him. He loved living with him because it meant he’d get to wake up to a ray of sunshine, a ball of energy next to him on the bed. 

Now he can’t wait for the moment he gets to be free of him. 

“I don’t even know why I’m dating you anymore,” is the next thing out of Baekhyun’s mouth. “You’re the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. Why can’t you just be a fucking normal boyfriend for once? That’s all I ask for. Do you get off on being an asshole to me? Is that it?”

“Good fucking lord, why won’t you shut up?” Chanyeol says in a sigh, bringing a hand up to his face and pressing against his eyes with the pad of his fingers. 

“If you want me to shut up, then make me!” he exclaims in return. 

That’s all it takes for Chanyeol to crumble, for him to approach Baekhyun in two big steps and kiss him.

That’s all it takes for the anger to disappear.

“Why do you have to be such an asshole all the time?” Baekhyun asks right against his mouth a split second after the kiss is over. “I’m tired of fighting.” 

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol brings out in response. “I’m so sorry.” 

“I don’t want to fight anymore.” Baekhyun brings out softly.

“Let’s try,” Chanyeol pleads right away. “One last time, let’s just try.”

“I’m so tired of hating you.” 

“I’m tired, too,” he replies. “So, for the last time, let’s try not to be assholes, let’s try not to fight.”

They are always like this, volatile, explosive, meant to break. They fight more than they love and they scream more than they talk. They aren't good for each other. 

But the anger never lasts and they right their wrongs more than they leave them be, and the hatred they share for each other comes second place to the hatred they have for not being together. 


	9. [25] I Want An Answer Goddammit!

They started fighting on the phone. An angry text turned into an angry call, which lead to Chanyeol showing up at his door and getting far more inquisitive than before, demanding answers Kyungsoo wasn’t sure he had anymore. 

Their relationship crumpled down about a month ago, when Kyungsoo couldn’t take it anymore and asked Chanyeol to give him space. The place they shared then became a mess, with Chanyeol rummaging through drawers and half of the wardrobe to get all of his things and leave. To him,  _ space _ was not a thing relationships ever needed, either you were in love or out of it, and gray areas in between were just a figment of Kyungsoo’s imagination, an excuse to go and do the things he couldn’t while tied down to another person. 

And he wasn’t wrong. 

Kyungsoo had grown tired of having to go on dates with him, of always needing to make time to be a proper boyfriend. He got tired of the routine, got bored and missed the chase. He missed being playful with Chanyeol, because they’d grown so used to each other that nothing felt new, nothing felt different and Chanyeol was no longer making an effort to make things work either.  _ That’s  _ why he asked him for a little bit of space. 

He never expected Chanyeol to take it so badly… and Chanyeol just failed to understand.

Then he started missing him. 

It felt weird, you know? Waking up to an empty spot on the bed, to silence coming from the kitchen and nothing for breakfast. Suddenly, what started as a relieving time off started feeling like a nightmare. Suddenly, a relationship he’d once cherished and loved, turned sour and died, and Kyungsoo saw himself in the position of someone that had to learn to live on his own again. 

Except he didn’t want to. 

On the tenth day of their break-up-not-so-break-up, Kyungsoo broke down and texted Chanyeol. It was a quick  _ I miss you, _ nothing otherworldly, but enough for Chanyeol to reply to him. They texted back and forth for a few hours before he belted out the classic  _ come over _ , and Chanyeol came running to his door. 

That was the beginning of something Kyungsoo couldn’t understand. 

They met up to have sex, not the lazy, soft kind they used to have as a couple, but only meant to get them both off. They never really talked, they never really got caught up on each other. They just did what they wanted to do and moved on. 

Then the sleepovers started.

Chanyeol always had an excuse not to leave, and Kyungsoo couldn’t ever find a reason to tell him to go. It was toxic, it gave them both a false hope that they relied on for as long as they were having sex and spending the night together, only to wake up and realize that time was up. But neither of them ever complained, neither of them said  _ go. _

They could spend entire nights talking in bed after sex, typical pillow talk, with Chanyeol laying on his side and staring at Kyungsoo. He always found a way to lure him in, to blur the lines and make him forget why he’d asked for some space in the first place, and the times where Kyungsoo felt bold enough to tell him to stop, Chanyeol would remind him that he’d been the one to text him in the first place. 

Chanyeol couldn’t deny that he was doing this on purpose. He didn’t want to lose Kyungsoo, and if this was the only thing he had left, then he wanted to take advantage of it. 

He showed up at Kyungsoo’s door without fail, he gave him what he wanted and stayed the night. He spent his time trying to make sure the guy remembered why they were a good couple from day one. He knew he was being a terrible person, that he should’ve said no when Kyungsoo first asked him to come over, but he couldn’t give much of a fuck about it anymore. 

He had Kyungsoo. That was enough to get him through another day. 

And things were really working out this way. They weren’t boyfriends but they were  _ something, _ which was more than nothing, even if it was less than what Chanyeol really wanted. Things were going fine, and they were finding themselves having fun and wanting to spend more time together again. 

Then Chanyeol whispered  _ I love you,  _ and Kyungsoo said it back. 

That’s what fueled today’s fight. The moment Kyungsoo acknowledged saying that, Chanyeol took it upon himself to mock him and remind him about their so called  _ space.  _ The phone call made things even worse, and by the end of it, Kyungsoo was losing his mind. 

Chanyeol still didn’t understand. 

And now he’s standing in the middle of the living room, looking extremely pissed off and asking five thousand questions, the last one being a  _ “Do you still want to be with me?”  _ that Kyungsoo failed to answer _.  _

“I want an answer Goddammit!” Chanyeol exclaims a little too loud for Kyungsoo, who only shivers.

He still loves him, there’s no question about that, and he wants to be with him, but he can’t quite agree to do that if Chanyeol’s not willing to keep making an effort. This is why their relationship started going south, a clear reminder of what Kyungsoo wants and can’t seem to get back. 

“And I want you to be a good boyfriend!” Kyungsoo shoots back, being as honest as possible, staring up at Chanyeol and wishing he could pierce him with his stare. “I was tired of always being the one wanting to do things with you only for everything to get boring in a second, I was tired of  _ having _ to do things with you.” 

His words render Chanyeol speechless for the first time ever, that’s how he knows he’s finally getting through to him. Maybe, just maybe, there’s still hope for them. 

“I want us to be the way we’ve been these past few weeks, I want to have fun with you, laugh, fall in love all over again,” Kyungsoo then continues, knowing he has to be clear if he wants Chanyeol to finally comprehend. “I can’t- I can’t go back to before.” 

“The person I was with you these past few weeks isn’t me, it’s just someone I pretended to be to please you,” Chanyeol says, and Kyungsoo can’t help but think he’s trying to be hurtful just for the sake of getting the upper hand on the fight. 

“Well, I loved that person,” he replies without missing a beat. “And it’s the same guy I fell in love with four years ago, the guy that made an effort to make me like him, to drive me insane and make me want more.” 

Silence falls in between them like a heavyweight. All they do is stare at each other and wait for the other to say something, but nothing comes. And time moves so fucking slowly for what feels like an eternity. 

Then Chanyeol sighs and takes a step back.

_ Game over,  _ Kyungsoo thinks. 

“I can’t go back to before,” Kyungsoo repeats after a moment. “I’m sorry.” 

More silence. So much it starts killing Kyungsoo so very slowly. 

“We’re not going back to before,” Chanyeol says softly after a little too long, his eyes finally meeting Kyungsoo’s again. “But I don’t think I can do now either.” 

And with that, he leaves the place they shared and Kyungsoo plops down on the couch, head between his hands, eyes closed.

Little does he know, in exactly two days, Chanyeol will be texting him again, that after much consideration, the guy realized where things went wrong and how to make them better. Little does he know, in exactly three months and four days, Chanyeol will be moving back in and living with him in that shoebox sized apartment of theirs, that they’ll be breaking the bed within the first two weeks of living together, and that they’ll break the couch within the following three.

Little does he know, Chanyeol will give him one new reason every day to be in love, to always want more, to  _ stay.  _


	10. [44] I Still Remember The Way You Taste

“You’re crazy!” Baekhyun exclaims, laughing at something Jongdae said.

Jongdae only smirks, looking at his friend smugly. “Then tell me I’m wrong. You’ve been eyeing him since we got here. You’re not that subtle, Baekhyunnie.”

Baekhyun has to admit subtlety isn’t one of his strongest suits. Even if he tries to be, something about him, be it his facial expression or his body movements, will surely give him out. It’s even easier to point out when it’s his best friend Jongdae seeing all those things.

“You have to admit he’s still looking fine as hell,” he says with a shrug and a cheeky smile on his face.

Baekhyun brings the glass of alcohol to his lips, looking at the man that has been the subject of their conversation. He didn’t expect to see him there, not at all. He didn’t even notice him until they finally settled on a seat and he was just there leaning back against the counter animatedly talking with his friends.

Kris always catch the attention of everyone and that’s including Baekhyun himself. He still remembers the way he stopped on his track when he saw the man fixing his cap as he was getting ready for the pitch. Baekhyun thought he looked really cool and didn’t notice he was staring until Jongdae nudged him back to reality. Together with that memory, was the embarrassment he felt when he met his eyes that same day and he blushed really hard because Kris smiled at him, he fucking smiled when he didn’t know him at all.

Anyway, that’s something he surely wouldn’t forget both because it is a good memory and an embarrassing one.

There’s a smile on his lips when Jongdae nudges him, his attention immediately going back to Jongdae who’s trying to subtly point out something to him by moving his eyes to a certain direction. He follows it and it brings him back to where his eyes had been just moments ago but this time, with the other person looking right back at him.

“You’ve been looking at him forever he probably felt someone boring a hole in his head,” Jongdae says laughing.

Baekhyun feels like he was brought back to the past. His cheeks starts to burn and feels the embarrassment coming along with it. This feels like deja vu except he knows it’s not. It’s history repeating itself and he can’t believe he let it get to that.

“This isn’t happening,” he tries to convince himself.

He could barely hear Jongdae’s obnoxious laughter. There’s just ringing in his ears and the thumping inside his chest. There’s nothing else he could hear but the faint sound of footsteps of someone approaching despite the blaring music playing in the background. It’s all probably in his head, but he could still hear them anyway.

Baekhyun looks away, ignores the way his heart leaps a little at the glimpse of a smile he saw. There’s really no reason for him to feel that way anymore. He’s not a teenager, and he’s definitely not the same Baekhyun. He shouldn’t be feeling this way but he does.

He refuses to look up even when he feels Kris’ presence beside him. Jongdae keeps nudging but he keeps on shoving him back. They were doing it for a minute before Kris finally speaks up.

“You’re really not going to say hi?” There’s a teasing tone lacing his voice making Baekhyun look up at him with a raised brow.

“Aren’t you supposed to say hi first because you approached me?”

Kris raises an eyebrow back, the smirk on his face just growing by the second. “You’re the one who had been staring at me,” he says teasingly. “I did you a favor and approached you since you don’t look like you could.”

Baekhyun could now hear Jongdae snickering so he doesn’t think twice about elbowing him. Jongdae coughs, hitting him back on his arm.

“I wasn’t staring,” he lies through his teeth, looking away.

Kris laughs. “You’re still bad at lying, Baekkie.”

It has been so long since Baekhyun heard that nickname. Everyone calls him Baekhyunnie. It was only Kris who uses it because he didn’t want to call him like everyone else.

“Come on. It’s just a hi,” he presses on, tilting his head to the side.

Baekhyun sighs and puts his glass down, looking up at him. “Hi. There, are you happy?”

Kris grins at him. “Very. Now, mind if I ask you to dance?”

It’s unexpected. It is really unexpected and it shows on Baekhyun’s face. He’s staring at Kris like just grew another head, his mouth gaping a bit as he processes his words. He asked him out to dance. He really just asked him out to-

“Hey,” Kris snaps his fingers in front of him, Jongdae pinching his side at the same time. “You okay?”

Baekhyun nods. “Yeah, of course. You were saying?”

Kris chuckles. “I said you wanna dance?”

Before Baekhyun could response, Jongdae’s already on his case, pushing him towards the other man. “He does! Go Baekhyun, I need to go pee and meet Jun outside.”

“Jun? When did he-”

Jongdae’s already on his feet before he can finish his question leaving him alone with Kris.

“So?”

“Fine.”

Baekhyun gets up, walking towards the dance floor where a sea of bodies bumping against each other waits for them. He can feel Kris walking closely behind him as he squeezes in the tight bodies to get a spot spacious enough for them to fit in.

He stops trying to move at one point, finding it pointless since they’re just going to be squeezed in with everyone constantly moving anyways. He finds it in himself to be bold enough to face him, turning all of a sudden that he bumps into Kris who didn’t realize he already stopped walking.

“I guess here is fine,” Baekhyun says loudly so Kris can hear.

He doesn’t make any move after that. He stands there waiting for Kris to do anything. It only takes him a few seconds before he’s pulling Baekhyun by the hips, pressing their bodies together as they sway to the beat.

Baekhyun was surprised at first, until he finally lets go and followed the music, dancing along with his ex.

He doesn’t know when he became too comfortable, when he started to fall back into their old routine. He didn’t even think it’s possible to get back to their old dynamics that easily. It really is just like the first time they met.

Baekhyun doesn’t think too much about it, just enjoys the company and the proximity. He knows they’re being a little too close for comfort, their hands moving to places they probably shouldn’t be but they both don’t seem like they want to stop. So they keep on doing it.

Until things escalated a bit more. Baekhyun finds himself grinding against Kris, the other man pulling him close as he latches his mouth on the supple skin of his neck. Baekhyun doesn’t stop him, even tilts his head to give him access to more skin.

It goes on like that for a moment, until Kris decided he wants more and trails kisses up his neck his jaw, until he reaches Baekhyun’s lips.

Baekhyun should push him away, his mind tells him to. But he can’t find any reason to do that. They’re both single (at least he assume Kris is too). What’s the harm it could do? Nothing. So he wraps his arms around the other man’s neck, pulling him down to take the kiss up another notch.

He can’t remember when the last time he was kissed lile that, like they can’t get enough of him. Kris always made it seem that way whenever he kisses Baekhyun. Because he really can’t get enough of the younger man.

They’re both panting when the kiss ended, their foeheads pressed together. “I still remember the way you taste,” Kris breathes out, his breath fanning against his lips, warm and minty.

“Did you even forget it for one second?” he replies cheekily, leaning in to press a small kiss on his lips.

Kris shakes his head. “It will always have a special place.”

“Doen’t mean it can’t be topped or replaced.”

“Maybe I don’t want it topped or replaced.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know how to respond to that so he keeps quiet, waits for Kris to say something more because he doesn’t know how to go from there.

“I never forgot about you, Baekkie. I still thought about you constantly after we broke up. I didn’t want to, but you I can’t have you wait for me while I was back in China.”

“i told you we could make it work…”

“I didn’t want to leave anything behind in case I won’t be able to go back.”

“But you did…”

“I did. So I’m going to try to win you back.”

Baekhyun would be lying if he says he forgot about Kris. Jongdae knows how much he cried when he left, how he called him stupid a lot of times but still not able to hate him because he understood. Now that he’s here again, insinuating something like a continuation to their short lived story, Baekhyun feels like he’s having the time of his life.

He smirks at him, humming. “You can try.”

“Prepare yourself then. You know how I take courting seriously.”

Baekhyun only shrugs, trying to be nonchallant. “Then come at me, big boy. Ain’t the same Baekhyunnie who used to melt at your feet.”

Baekhyun regrets saying that. Because the next second, while Kris pressed his lips against his, he melts into a puddle of mess, moaning against the kiss and holding onto him to keep himself from falling.

 


	11. [26] It Was You The Whole Time

For the most part, the year people turned twenty-one, a name showed up on their skin. It was always written in black, really tiny, and always located on the wrist. It was a constant reminder of the fact that everyone had a soulmate -unless they did not feel any attraction towards romance-, a reminder that there was someone out there to spend a life with. And, although the system wasn’t perfect, it gave everyone someone they could fall for at the right time. 

But, of course, with a system that strived for perfection in terms of matchmaking, there were some anomalies, like little kinks in the process that stumped a person’s relationship progress or simply made some people look as though they were broken. 

Some people found their soulmates in their teen years, as soon as their soulmate turned twenty one, which started the debate on whether minors should be matched or not. Some others found their soulmate’s name written on their skin in very faint ink, with some characters barely even there, and spent their entire lives trying to figure out who their soulmate was. Some didn’t even get a soulmate despite being highly in tune with their desire for a romantic relationship. And some… some got dealt with soulmates that did not match them at all, as if the system screwed up so badly that it matched them to someone they could never get along with. 

Chanyeol was one of those anomalies. 

There was no name on his wrist, at least not one he could read, although he could tell there was a weird outline traced on the spot where black ink should be. He also got it with a delay, not when he turned twenty-one, but two years later, when he woke up with a burning pain on his wrist, only for it to leave an odd patch of paler skin. 

He found solace in knowing he wasn’t the only one among his friends to be considered an anomaly or a mistake from the system. While the majority of his friends found their perfect match, his friend Jongin went on a rant about how the new year had brought him a  _ half-assed _ attempt of a name, that it only said  _ \---k ----yeo- _ , and that it was  _ fucking crooked. _ And, even if it was more than what Chanyeol had gotten, he’d found in Jongin someone that completely understood the struggle of maybe never having a match. 

One by one, their friends had been falling, finding their person in the world and settling down. And they stayed the same. Waiting. 

He hated knowing that Jongin had more of a chance at finding his soulmate than he did, but he could never hold that against his friend. Jongin had done nothing wrong, he’d just been luckier. 

As for Jongin, he truly believed he’d rather have a faint mark than something he can’t decypher. It feels like having half of a puzzle and the rest of the pieces are missing, and he can’t find any solace in the idea that he will somehow  _ know _ who his soulmate is once they meet. 

Years passed and there was still no sign of their soulmates. Chanyeol still had the same pale mark that looked more like a nasty scar than a name, and Jongin still had the same fucked up “name” tattooed on his skin. And neither of them had ever felt anything special for anyone else that might hint at a possible match. 

But now the weddings have started coming one after the other and the situation only gets worse as they go. 

Minseok was the first one to get married. His wedding was the beginning of a chain of announcements and events. 

Now it’s literally all of them. 

Chanyeol has had enough to drink to last him a lifetime, and Jongin is not that far behind. 

They leave the party almost at dawn, once the newlyweds leave the building and they feel free to go. They spend half an hour waiting for a cab, and by the time they reach Chanyeol’s place, the sun’s completely out and they’ve been kissing in the back seat of the car for a little too long. 

Things only go up from there. 

Jongin’s clothes are the first to come off and end up on the floor, while Chanyeol’s end up hanging from the corner of the bed. They kiss and touch for what feels like forever, and end up completely spent about an hour later. 

Outside, the sun shines as bright as ever and the early morning glow floods the room through the slightly parted curtains. Chanyeol looks like he’s almost glowing when the sunlight hits his skin.

They’ve ended up like this several times, both of them seeking some sort of  _ thing  _ in the one person that can understand them. They’ve never regretted this, and Jongin is sure they aren’t about to start doing that now. If anything, they might turn this into more of a regular thing after this, just because they can, just because there is nobody else out there for them. 

“What if it’s supposed to say Park Chanyeol?” Jongin asks with a smile on his face, turning to Chanyeol, who’s already laying on his side on the bed.

They’ve had this conversation before, mostly because it could be, but it’s not. 

“I mean, I do have a  _ k _ and a  _ yeo _ , right?” Jongin goes on, smile widening. 

“Shouldn’t we know?” Chanyeol replies. “Aren’t we supposed to get a  _ special _ feeling when we meet our soulmate?” 

“Are you saying I’m not special?” Jongin narrows his eyes at him, still smiling, still looking as bright as ever.

“I’m saying I thought we were supposed to know when we found our soulmate.” 

Jongin laughs, and it’s the kind of belly-aching laugh that makes him look adorable. 

Chanyeol almost wishes he could feel that  _ special  _ thing towards him, that they could be soulmates for real. 

“I’ll show you,” is what Jongin settles for, putting an end to the conversation.

The weeks after that run smoothly.

They meet up from time to time and end up in bed, but a lot more sober than before, and, soon enough, they start going on little dates, spending more and more time together. They could pass for soulmates to anyone, except they both know there’s no chance they are meant for each other. But… but then again, does it matter? Neither of them have found their soulmate and it’s highly unlikely that they will without a tattoo to prove the point. 

Maybe, in another universe, Chanyeol thinks, they are soulmates. Maybe, he wants to believe, they are happy in that alternate timeline. 

Jongin isn’t so sure he wants to think of an alternate universe. He wants happiness in this one, and he’s found it in quite the unexpected guy. He’s willing to do anything to find happiness in this particular one, and he starts by doing the easiest and quickest thing he can think of: he gets a tattoo over the existing soulmate tattoo.

In theory, it’s illegal to do so. There are strict regulations upon getting tattooed over an existing soulmate tattoo, but, since his is one of the many failed ones, it doesn’t take him over a month to find someone willing to rewrite his story. 

He gets the characters tattooed right over the empty spaces on his wrist, completing the puzzle he so badly needed the pieces for. He makes sure it says Chanyeol about five hundred times before giving the okay to the artist, and can’t help but keep his eyes glued to his wrist once it’s done.

It looks a little too real. 

Chanyeol sees is about half an hour later and can’t stop beaming. He gushes about the tattoo and talks about getting one himself. And he can fearlessly admit that he’s sure in another world they get the real thing, even if this one has been so damn unfair to them. The hate he once felt towards knowing that Jongin might end up meeting his soulmate one day fades away, leaving him only with the warm feeling of love, of belonging. 

However, peace seems to evade them, as he wakes up one night, at around two am, with burning pain on his wrist. And he knows what that means. 

“Nini,” he brings out in a raspy voice, using his free hand to nudge Jongin awake. The guy wakes up slurring  _ what  _ and  _ stop,  _ all while the burning never stops. 

The next thing Chanyeol does is turning the light on, his hand instinctively covering his right wrist after that while Jongin keeps asking  _ what’s up? _ in the groggiest tone Chanyeol has ever heard from him. It hurts like hell, to the point that he actually believes his own body is in a process of autodestruction. 

And then it stops. 

It leaves a lingering sensation, like the burning feeling is about to fade but doesn’t quite get there yet. And Chanyeol… well, he’s not thrilled by the situation.

He’s twenty-six, and his soulmate might be a guy five years younger than him. His soulmate, in the end, turned out to show up, and it’s not who he wants it to be. This is worse than having nobody, worse than the nasty scar or the missing characters in Jongin’s wrist. 

“Let me see,” Jongin says, eliciting a quick response from Chanyeol, who only shakes his head. “You have to see.” 

“I don’t want to.” Chanyeol holds his wrist a little tighter, making the burning sensation return momentarily. He grimaces at the feeling.

“Do it.” 

And he does.

Right there, underneath his hand, on his wrist, the black ink that permanently dyed his skin moments ago lays pooled in perfectly detailed characters. The name sits beautifully against his skin, and even though Chanyeol should be the first to react, he’s too busy gaping, and Jongin is too quick to open his mouth.

“I knew it,” is all he can bring himself to say, staring at his own name tattooed on Chanyeol’s skin, on his  _ soulmate’s _ skin. “I knew it had to be you.” 

“It was you the whole time,” Chanyeol whispers, still in shock.

The beginning of their forever takes place about an hour later, once they’ve kissed enough to get tired, once they’ve touched enough to feel too sensitive, once they’ve laughed and talked for ages. It’s nothing grand and it certainly doesn’t feel as special as others make it out to feel, but, after waiting for so long? It feels like the perfect forever. 


	12. [11] We Could Get Arrested For This

Kyungsoo is never the one to initiate this sort of thing, it’s usually Baekhyun. If anything, Kyungsoo is the enabler, the one leading Baekhyun on and on until they reach the point of no return. God, people could argue that it’s only because Baekhyun’s influence is so damn strong that he makes Kyungsoo this way. 

The thing is, this is not a thing Kyungsoo could find himself doing any day. This is a very Baekhyun thing to do, and now it’s way too late to stop. He can’t even find it in himself to care. And maybe he should. 

They are at a restaurant, sitting right in front of Baekhyun’s parents, and it’s the first time Kyungsoo’s ever seen them. Why he’s doing this is beyond Baekhyun. 

“It’s nice to see Baekhyun finally settling down,” Baekhyun’s mom says with a soft smile. His dad just keeps on shoving food into his mouth. “And with such a nice boy…” she continues.

“Hey, he’s really good, too,” Kyungsoo instantly replies, and Baekhyun can tell that he’s smiling.

They’ve been dating for almost a year and it still surprises him just how easily he can tell when Kyungsoo is smiling, as though it translated into his tone of voice in very peculiar ways. A whole year and he chooses to make this be the one time he acts bold and playful...  

“True, mom, I’m an angel,” Baekhyun finally brings out after swallowing hard.

That’s the perfect moment, Kyungsoo thinks before inching his hand up his boyfriend’s thigh. He could tell Baekhyun was having a hard time before, but now he’s sure it must feel like torture. 

He’s been doing this on and off since the meeting started, getting specially annoying around the time they ordered the food. After that, peace came with their dinner, but now that they had just debated whether they wanted to have something for desert or not, it all started again. 

Kyungsoo’s hand lays too close, close enough for Baekhyun to be unable to think straight for more than five seconds, and, so far, every time he’s opened his mouth, Kyungsoo’s inched it a little bit closer. It’s torture. 

“I have to be honest,” Baekhyun’s father starts off. If Kyungsoo has to be honest, he thought the man would be much scarier and the complete opposite to Baekhyun, so he’s glad he was wrong. “I thought Baekhyun would date someone older than him.” 

Kyungsoo then laughs, turning his head to stare at Baekhyun, who can only roll his eyes. Then he inches his hand a little higher, meeting the seam of his pants, right in between his legs.

“Jesus, I’m glad he’s not older,” Baekhyun’s mom says with a giggle of her own. 

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Baekhyun almost chokes out, his mom’s giggle turning into a soft smile. “I’ll be right back.”

It’s not the ideal scenario, Kyungsoo thinks. He doesn’t want to be left alone with his boyfriend’s parents, but it’s not like he can say no either. He has to sit there and do nothing, keep the small talk going, when all he really wanted was to keep teasing Baekhyun, who clearly couldn’t take it anymore. 

Baekhyun’s parents are truly lovely to him as well, they keep on talking and trying to include him, but, after five minutes of not having his boyfriend around, Kyungsoo easily runs out of things to converse about. 

“You can go with him if you’d like to,” Baekhyun’s mom brings out softly. “We don’t mind.” 

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo says with a small smile and a few shy nods before standing up. “I’ll be back in a second.” 

He finds Baekhyun standing in front of the mirror not a minute later, both hands laying on the counter. He’s staring at himself, but it almost looks like he’s willing himself to calm down, and Kyungsoo can’t help but smile at himself.

“You’re the worst boyfriend ever,” Baekhyun says, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

He turns to stare at him and Kyungsoo takes a few steps forward, his hands quickly finding his boyfriend’s hips. He then starts pushing him in the direction of the nearest stall. 

“I’ll make it up to you,” is what he says as some sort of promise. 

“We can’t do that here,” Baekhyun reminds him, although his smile only seems to grow wider and wider. “And we have to go back to my parents soon.” 

“Come on, it won’t take long,” Kyungsoo replies, tilting his head. “Give me two minutes with you, that’s all I need.” 

That’s when the back of Baekhyun’s legs meet the toilet seat. Kyungsoo then squishes himself into the tiny bathroom stall and licks his lips, fingers fiddling with the button on his pants. 

“We could get arrested for this,” Baekhyun says, although he’s making no efforts to stop his boyfriend.

“Not if you shut up,” Kyungsoo shoots back. 

He falls to his knees a split second later, and, with him, he takes down Baekhyun’s pants. 

“We’re so gonna get caught,” Baekhyun insists. “In the five minutes I’ve been here, two people have come and gone.” 

“God, okay, sweetheart,” Kyungsoo sighs. Baekhyun could swear he felt that breath fan against his crotch and it hurt. “You choose: you stay silent and I get you off so you don’t go back to our table looking like the Everest’s found a new home in your pants, or you don’t stay silent and we end up at the closest police station with your parent’s bailing us out.” 

“What about option three, we do nothing and that’s it?” Baekhyun responds, even though that’s not the option he wants to choose or that he’d actually choose. 

“Fine. Nothing it is,” Kyungsoo says, sighing once more, quickly getting back on his feet and staring at Baekhyun eye to eye. From the get go, Baekhyun’s only staring at his lips, which only makes him smile. 

“Stopstopstop,” he rushes to reply, and Kyungsoo’s smile widens. “Option three is the worst, I take it back.” 

“Good God,” Kyungsoo laughs.

A split second later, he’s back on his knees, with his hands resting on either side of his boyfriend’s hips. 

“Not a sound, sweetheart,” is the last thing he says. 

Ten minutes later, they are walking back to their table, holding hands as Baekhyun’s parents stare up at the happy couple. Kyungsoo smiles widely, a boxy smile that hides so much of what they’ve just done in the bathroom, while Baekhyun’s cheeks have turned rosy and he finds himself stifling a laugh as he sits back down in his place. 


	13. [21] Sometimes Being A Complete Nerd Comes In Handy

He convinced Baekhyun by tiring him out, and, if he’s honest about it now, he’d say he’d been seconds away from giving up. He figured being annoying was the only way in which he’d get Baekhyun to break and say yes, and he’d been right. 

It wasn’t like he was asking for the impossible either, he only wanted company to go to the movies, and Baekhyun just happened to be the perfect candidate for the position. 

After that, all was settled with ease. Chanyeol bought their tickets with weeks of anticipation and then they waited. 

Little did he know he picked the worst seats ever. 

Now there’s no going back. 

They get popcorn and soda, all as per Baekhyun’s request, who, to this day, still finds it in himself to complain about having to see this particular movie. They get to their seats about five minutes later, finding that every seat around them has long since been taken. 

Baekhyun sits next to a group of girls, one louder than the other, that spend the majority of their time taking selfies and facetuning them. His complaints only get worse after that. 

Chanyeol, on the other hand, sits next to what seems to be a couple. Except it’s not a happy one since the guy next to him is silent, save for the seemingly angry huffing and sighing every thirty seconds. 

“Why did I get the seat next to the preteens?” Baekhyun asks, leaning on the armrest in between their seats. He has the popcorn in between his legs, and Chanyeol can’t help but think that, out of anger, his friend’s gonna squeeze the bag so hard, there will be no popcorn left. “This sucks.” 

“They’ll shut up when the movie starts,” Chanyeol tries to calm him down. 

Soon enough, every light in the room dims and the screen and the crowd falls silent as the movie begins. The girls next to Baekhyun say nothing, eyes glued to the screen, and Chanyeol would be smiling to himself out of satisfaction if it wasn’t for the guy next to him, who’s gone beyond just sighing loudly and now keeps on whispering. 

Chanyeol wishes he could say he’s not been hearing a thing they’ve been talking about, but he has, and, while it’s not enough to take his mind off of the movie, he finds listening to the conversation quite entertaining. 

“Who’s that?” the guy right next to him asks.

“I don’t know, Soo,” another voice replies, sounding a little too defeated.

“You brought me to watch this stupid movie, now you have to explain,” the guy then replies, sounding way angrier than before. He gets no response for a minute, then for another one. “If you’re not gonna help, then I’ll find someone else to do it.” 

Truth is Chanyeol wants to both tell him to shut his mouth, and laugh, but he can’t quite do either, so he sits in silence and tries to focus on the movie for a little longer. There’s a bright side to this mess tho, Baekhyun seems to have calmed down, and that’s yet another reason for him to not want to disturb anyone. 

“I’m sorry,” he then hears the guy next to him say, this time, much closer to him than before. “Would you mind telling me what’s going on in this movie?”

That’s when Chanyeol realizes he’s being talked to, and he gives the guy a quick glance before staring back at the screen for another moment. Then his attention fully shifts towards the guy next to him, who’s now staring up at him with wide eyes, and, even with the lights dimmed, Chanyeol’s pretty sure the guy’s a drop-dead-gorgeous kind of stunner. 

“Have you watched any of the previous ones?” Chanyeol finally asks, breathing out the question in his deepest tone. 

Baekhyun stares at him with a perked eyebrow.

“The first one,” the guy replies.

“Right…” Chanyeol sighs, shooting Baekhyun a quick glance and shrugging before half turning to the stranger and half watching the movie. “You have two movies of missing content.” 

“I know… I’m sorry,” the guy whispers in return, trying to turn his attention back to a movie he doesn’t understand. 

It makes Chanyeol smile to himself, mostly because he thinks that if he was the one in his position, he’d be upset about having to watch the movie as well. He doesn’t see why the guy should be apologizing either, since he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong. It’s kind of endearing, he thinks. 

“He found his daughter in, like, the second movie,” Chanyeol then starts, capturing all of the stranger’s attention once more. He refuses to look back at him tho, trying his hardest to focus on the movie. “According to the comics, it should’ve been long ago tho,” he continues a heartbeat later, “but they didn’t address it until the very end of the last one, so that’s where this one picks up.” 

His words, soft and even in tone, elicit soft  _ mhmms  _ and  _ ohs _ from the guy next to him. He continues giving the guy more and more information about the movie, filling him in on what he’s missed and giving him little bits of story taken straight from the comics he’s read a little too long ago and still remembers in perfect detail. 

And the guy listens to him attentively and without complaint. He never tells him to stop or tells him to go slower, he just takes it in as best as he can and is patient when Chanyeol fully focuses on the current movie’s plot. 

“And that’s his new suit, by the way,” Chanyeol brings out after a moment, about ten minutes before the movie ends. “He was supposed to get it during the plot for the third movie, but they scrapped that part altogether because the studio said they needed to make this one a little longer.” 

“It’s just a suit…” the guy trails off, making Chanyeol smile. 

The movie ends soon after, the lights coming back on after the hidden scene in between the credits. Instantly, Baekhyun begins stretching without really getting up and off of the seat. 

“Thank you,” Chanyeol then hears, very close to his right side, where the stranger sat for the entirety of the movie. 

“It’s okay,” Chanyeol replies right away, looking at the guy next to him, only to find out that he was absolutely right to think that he had to be stunning. “Glad I could help.” 

The guy’s companion, however, doesn’t look so pleased, and gets up to leave right away, which, in turn, makes the guy offer him a cheerful  _ bye  _ before following suit. 

“What the hell was that?” is the first question out Baekhyun’s mouth. 

“I have no idea,” Chanyeol replies.

They wait a few more minutes for the room to truly begin feeling empty as the crowd exits, and, only then, do they get ready to leave as well. That’s when Chanyeol finds a little piece of paper squished in between his soda and the armrest. 

A bunch of scribbled numbers stare back at him right under a name, written in deep blue ink.  _ Kyungsoo. _

“Did you really get somebody’s number from watching a movie in the dark?” Baekhyun asks, now standing up and staring down at Chanyeol with the most playful smile ever. “Now I get why you made me sit next to the twelve year olds.” 

“I guess sometimes being a complete nerd comes in handy,” Chanyeol replies, finally standing up. 

Baekhyun laughs loudly at that and shakes his head, taking a few steps back towards the nearest door. He glances over his shoulder a few times, stifling giggles here and there. 

Two hours later, back at home, Chanyeol gathers up whatever courage he has in his body and texts the number he’s most recently saved on his phone. The text is playful, meant to be a teasing little thing to spark a conversation up. 

_ So when should we marathon the first three movies? _


	14. [48] You Make Me Want Things I Can't Have

In a world where angels and demons are real and heaven and hell are a thing, there are strict rules to follow. 

For starters, angels are meant to do good only, to follow humans around and offer them solace. They don’t have wings, which sucks, but they are blessed with soft looks, soft voices and even softer personalities. They aren’t invisible, as most humans would like to believe, they walk the world just like everyone else, and they make friends and have families as well. They participate in every activity that might be considered to be  _ good, _ and, even if they do have faults, they are the closest thing to perfection there could ever be. 

Demons, on the other hand, are kings of mischief. They aren’t necessarily evil, but they aren’t afraid of sinning and know for a fact that they do not have a price to pay for their actions. They don’t necessarily look evil either, they look like everyone else, as though nature wanted to mask them so well that they could be mistaken for angels. They don’t have wings either, that’s yet another misconception about them. But, one thing everyone’s right about when it comes to demons, is that they are up to no good. 

Both kinds roam the world in silence, without giving away what kind of  _ thing  _ they are, and simply fulfilling their purpose in life. They don’t have rules set in stone for their tasks, they don’t need to do a minimum of good or evil things in a day, and they don’t always need to lure people into the light or the darkness. 

The only thing they have to stay true to, whether they like it or not, revolves around relationships. Angels and demons alike can fall for humans, although they can never reveal their true nature. But they can never fall for each other. That is the most important rule of them all, the one none should break unless they wanted to experience the wrath of heaven and earth combined. 

And that was exactly the one rule Yixing and Baekhyun started breaking a long time ago. 

Yixing used to be the picture perfect angel, the kind of angel that sounded like, one day, he’d die and get his wings in heaven, while Baekhyun couldn’t get any darker. They were complete opposites when they met, treated each other like a side project, with Baekhyun trying to turn Yixing into a fallen angel and Yixing trying to turn Baekhyun into the epitome of light and love. 

Now, Baekhyun is sure he’s the one doing his job right, that he’s been doing it right since the moment he first kissed Yixing and felt him melt against him, but he doesn’t realize that Yixing thinks the same thing about himself. After all, Yixing can tell how much softer Baekhyun has become over time, how his rough edges slowly turned out to be so perfectly soft. 

Things only got worse when Baekhyun started feeling himself fall for the angel, who clearly had no intention to prevent himself from falling in return. The promise of terrible tortures and eternal punishment loomed over them every single day, and they still chose to fall deeper and deeper in love. 

And now they are too far gone. 

They meet up every weekend or as much as they possibly can, and one of them always spends the night at the other’s place. If God or the Devil ever noticed them doing that, they never said a thing before, and both Baekhyun and Yixing are sure that they just won’t do it now. 

They do things they like, with Yixing adapting to Baekhyun’s mischief and Baekhyun adapting to Yixing’s kindness every single time. They shape each other in the smallest ways and try their best to never let it get to their heads. They love each other just the same, despite Baekhyun’s nature and Yixing’s overflowing softness. 

They both know this can’t go on much longer, that someone will eventually find out that an angel and a demon are in love, that this will all undoubtedly catch fire and burn them alive.

There’s a storm coming, and they both know they won’t make it out alive. 

“I love you,” Yixing whispers against his mouth after a long moment of silence. 

Baekhyun can feel his breath fan against his lips and struggles not to smile. 

“I’m serious, I love you,” the angel insists, his hand squeezing the demon’s naked waist. “I don’t care if you’re a demon,  _ fuck  _ the rules.” 

“Did you just say  _ fuck _ ?” Baekhyun replies playfully, finally breaking into a smile. “What a terrible little angel, must be corrupted beyond repair.” 

“I wonder who taught me that…” Yixing then trails off, rolling his eyes and smiling softly back at Baekhyun.

It’s hard for Baekhyun not to see perfection in Yixing whenever the guy smiles, with that soft dimple showing and his eyes turning smaller. Whoever said angels were truly meant to be the living image of perfection was right, Yixing is proof of that, or so does Baekhyun think. 

And for Yixing, it feels kind of similar. Demons were meant to lure anyone in, and he could agree. There’s nothing in the world that gets him quite like Baekhyun does with just a word. He can never get enough of him either. 

“I’m still serious,” Yixing breathes out once more, “I love you, like,  _ in love _ with you.” 

“You know I feel the same,” Baekhyun then replies, turning serious for a moment just to match Yixing’s demeanor. 

They addressed this several times in the past, just like they are doing now, but they never found a solution they could work with. 

“And then I hate you so much,” Yixing continues, which makes Baekhyun let a soft  _ hey _ out. “You make me-” Yixing then cuts himself off, swallowing before continuing. “You make me want things I can’t have.” 

“Who said you can’t have those things?” Baekhyun says, and, for the first time, he can say he’s not meaning to say that in an alluring way, as though he’s playing with the angel. 

He means what he’s saying, every word in his question being nothing but genuine, no demon charms lacing his voice. 

“Run away with me,” Baekhyun says so softly it could pass for a whisper. “You can have me and every other thing you want, just run away with me.” 

“And where would we go?” the angel replies a split second after, looking as though he’s been offered a chance at living the way he wants to, new hope. “They could still find us.” 

“Then we keep on running,” the demon replies with a smile. 

It’s obvious to Yixing that Baekhyun’s not trying to convince him, that he’s not using any of this demonic abilities to lure people in. Baekhyun’s being honest and offering him something he never knew he could have. 

“Say yes,” Baekhyun whispers, pressing soft kisses to the angel’s mouth. “Be mine.” 

Yixing only manages to keep on kissing him, his arm now fully draped over Baekhyun’s waist, keeping him as close as he can. Baekhyun, in return, wraps his arms around the angel’s neck.

“Let’s go to the end of the world,” Baekhyun brings out, trying to get a very speechless Yixing to say something. “Let’s see everything and stay together, let’s be together, say yes.” 

“Yes,” Yixing finally whispers back. 

Baekhyun kisses him again, softly, kindly, almost too softly for a demon. 

“I’m not losing you,” the demon then says. 

“Heaven will lose me before you do,” Yixing replies.  _ It’s a promise,  _ he thinks. They’ll see this through together, or not at all. 

“Hell’s already lost me,” Baekhyun laughs so very softly. 

“I should care about not knowing where my place in the world is anymore, but I can’t,” the angel brings out with a hazy smile on his face.

“Oh, I know where I belong,” Baekhyun is quick to respond. “It’s right here, on this bed, staring at the angel I fell in love with, right in between his arms…”

Heaven and Hell could never stop them before, not even with the promise of a punishment that would make them regret every little thing. If anything, it fueled them to keep moving forward, to want more. 

They lost sight of what their purpose was and if a God or Devil came knocking to their door it wouldn’t even matter.

Not when they have this, not while it lasts.

“And that’s where I’ll be when the end comes.” 


End file.
